Harry Potter actor who exposed himself to women on a train for the SECOND time is spared jail

A dwarf actor who has starred in Star Wars and Harry Potter has escaped jail after he admitted exposing himself on a train for a second time.

Nicholas Read, 41, flashed his penis at two medical students while travelling on a train to Manchester.The father-of-one also took a picture of one of the horrified women using a mobile phone.

At the time of the offence the 4ft 5in star had just enrolled on a sex offenders’ treatment programme for a similar crime.

He admitted exposure at a previous hearing Manchester Crown Court in January.

The court heard he’d been travelling on board a train from York when the offence took place.

Nicola Carroll, prosecuting, claimed the women had been left 'terrified and traumatised' by Read, who lives in Staffordshire.

He’d admitted to police after being arrested at Manchester’s Piccadilly station that he 'had a problem', she said. 'He said: ''I’ve gone and ruined my life.''

The court was told that at the time of the offence Read, who appeared as an Ewok in Return of the Jedi, had been enrolled on a sex offenders’ programme after being convicted last July of exposing himself to a schoolgirl on board a London to Leicester train in 2010.

He was handed a 20-week suspended sentence for that offence.

Judge Robert Thomas QC told the court that breaching the terms of a suspended sentence would usually mean an offender being sent to prison.

But he handed Read a 16 week sentence that was suspended for two years, saying the actor would be 'very vulnerable' in the prison system.

The judge praised Read for the 'progress' he’d made on the sexual offenders’ programme, saying: 'You are finally facing up to the offences you need to face up to.

'You are making real progress. I am not going to disturb that progress by sending you to prison, which would only be for a few weeks.'

The judge added that prison would be a 'terrible time' for Read, whose previous offences also include making obscene phone calls and indecent assault.

He ordered that Read sign the Sexual Offenders’ Register for seven years and handed him a sexual offences prevention order.

In addition, he told Read that he must inform his probation officer, Staffordshire Police and the British Transport Police when he wanted to travel by train. The order will last five years.